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Before the Qin Dynasty (秦朝 221BC to 207BC) the people living in the region where we now call Mei Xian were the tribes of Qu (曲族), Yue (越族), Yao (瑤族), Yu (畬族). In 221BC Ying Zheng (嬴政) subjugated all the kingdoms in the land and established the Qin Dynasty. Ying Zheng proclaimed himself the First Emperor of a thousand Emperors of the Qin Empire (秦始皇帝). At that time, the total population within his empire was about 20 millions. The bulk of the population was in the present day provinces of Shaanxi (陜西省) and Gansu (甘肅省) in the regions along the two large rivers of Huang He (Yellow River 黃河) and Chang Jiang ( Yangtze River 長江).

In 214BC the First Emperor dispatched an army of 500,000 strong, under the command of Tu Sui (屠睢), to the southern part of his Empire. The troops were to be divided into five army corps of 100,000 each. One army was sent to Fan Yu (番禺in present day south of Guangzhou city 廣州市 in Guangdong province 廣東省), one to Tan Cheng (鐔城 in present day near Gui Lin city 桂林市 in Guangxi province 廣西省), one to the present day northern part of Vietnam, which was then called Xiang Prefecture (象郡), one to the present day Nan Chang city in Jiangxi province (南昌市, 江西省) and one to Yu Gan (餘干) near the Po Yang Hu (鄱陽湖) in the north of Jiangxi. province. In 207BC the Qin Empire collapsed and the half a million Qin troops did not go back to the north but settled permanently in the south. Some of the troops were stationed in Mei Xian and they lived there for good and established their families.

For the next 2,000 years, during the Dynasties of Jin (晉朝), Tang (唐朝), Song (宋朝), Yuan (元朝), Ming (明朝) and Qing (清朝), to escape wars, natural

calamities, many northerners relocated themselves to this region. This was

what we know the five big migrations of the Hakka people. They brought along

with them, from their homelands in the north, their language, culture and customs. They intermarried with the local tribes who were sinocized (Chinesenized) by these new settlers. Their offspring became to be known as the modern Hakkas.

The followings are the results after analyzing the genealogies of 115 families.

(1) There were 15 surnames from the province of Shaanxi (陜西省): Yang (楊), Song (宋), Ma (馬), and twelve others.

(9) Only two surnames Huang (黃) and Xiong (熊) from Hubei province (湖北省).

(10) He (何) was the only surname from Anhui province (安徽省).

(11) Luo (羅) was the only surname from Jiangxi province (江西省).

A good example about these relocations of surnames was the surname of Li (李).Currently surname Li is the most common surname in the world.

The area of the origin of surname Li was officially recorded in Long Xi Prefecture(隴西郡) which is in present day Lin Yao county (臨洮縣) of Gansu province

(甘肅省), about 100 kilometers west of the city of Lanzhou (蘭州市). During the North Dynasty (北朝) Li Gang (李崗) was delegated to administer the ancient state of Tang (古唐國) in Shanxi province. He was known as The Duke of the State ofTang (唐國公). His descendant called Li Yuan (李淵) founded the Tang Dynasty(唐朝 618AD to 907AD). At the end of the Tang Dynasty an offspring of Li Gang called Li Meng (李孟) fled the turbulent north and relocated his family from Chang An (長安), the capital of the Tang Dynasty, to Bian Liang (汴梁 present

day city of Kaifeng 開封市), in Henan province. The offspring of Li Meng migrated to Ning Hua Shi Bi (寧化石壁 the cradle of Fujianese Hakkas) in Fujian province福建省).

Li Meng begoted Li Zhu (李珠) who had five sons namely;Jin De (金德), Mu De (木德), Shui De (水德), Huo De (火德) and Tu De (土德).Mu De had two wives and Huo De had four wives. The offspring of Li Zhu relocated themselves to other parts in Fujian province, Guangdong province (廣東省), Jiangxi province (江西省), Guizhou province (貴州省), Taiwan province (台灣省) andNanyang (南洋 Malaysia and Singapore). Most of the descendants by the six wives of Li Mu De and Li Huo De stayed behind in Mei Xian.

There are Mei Xian Hakkas in 60 countries in the world. The 1987 census reveal the total population count::